Jin Yoshimura, a scientist from Japan who traveled to Central New York to research the 17-year cicadas emerging now, holds a nymph on June 12, 2018 in Onondaga, N.Y (AP)

Students from Japan and a researcher from New Zealand are among the scientists and hobbyists flocking to central New York for rare sightings of a big bug. The area’s cicada (sih-KAY’-duh) brood emerges once every 17 years.

Advertising

The Post-Standard says the eastern U.S. is one of three places in the world with periodical cicadas. The others are the Pacific Ocean island of Fiji, where cicadas emerge every eight years; and northern India, where they emerge every four years.

In New York, some of the cicada fans have congregated at a farm and brewery in Onondaga (ah-nahn-DAH’-gah), just south of Syracuse. Several researchers recorded audio and video as the cicadas’ call vibrated in the background. A student from Shizuoka University in Japan, Hiroki Hayashi, calls the scene “wonderful and exciting.”